the cursed girl
by wolfygirl1900gmail.com
Summary: while traveling together, hercules and iolaus meet a strange girl living in a forest with a pack of wolves. the girl has a secret that could get her killed if anyone found out. she gets along well with iolaus but he doesn't seem to understand why she's so cautious around him.


"Oh, come on, Hercules. This forest has the best deer hunting in all of greece!" Iolaus said adjusting his bow and quiver on his shoulder. Hercules chuckled and shook his head slightly at his best friend. The two paused hearing footsteps approaching them quickly from the forest next to them. A young grey wolf barreled out from between the trees and onto the trail. The two stopped walking and began to slowly back away as the wolf growled at them stalking closer. Soon a larger grey wolf rammed into the smaller one's side. The two men backed even more wanting to stay far enough away from the wolf fight.

A person wearing a wolf pelt cloak and wooden wolf mask came running out with a black wolf and stood between the wolf fight and the two men. From behind the guise, you could tell it was a woman with long red hair and a slim attractive figure. The black wolf by her side had some grey and white hairs mixed in with his charcoal fur.

"Asteri, Arethusa stop it!" The woman snarled at them and arched her back to make it look like she was bristling. The two grey wolves stopped and went over to her licking her face submissively whining. She slid her mask off and straightened up. She looked back at the two men and studied them briefly.

"You two okay?" She asked and pet the black wolf who had started to lean against her legs.

"Yeah." Hercules said and watched her curiously. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Sophie." She said and smiled. "These two are Asteri and Arethusa. Don't mind Arethusa too. She's still technically a pup, doesn't know not to charge people…."

The black wolf nudged and nibbled on her hand for attention and she smiled at him scratching his ears.

"This tough guy is Nyx. He's the calmest of the three." She explained and then looked up at the two men. "So…. Are you guys hunters?"

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait… You don't know who Hercules is?" Iolaus asked surprised and stared at her. "I mean, most women go all goo-goo eyed when they see him."

"Iolaus, it's fine, seriously…" Hercules said and chuckled uneasily.

Sophie smirked and licked Iolaus's cheek. "Well, for your information, I'm not most women." She teased and winked at him. "And besides, all the animals tell me about him, so yes I know all about the mighty Hercules…. Right down to his favorite food…"

Hercules stared at her raising an eyebrow and didn't know what to say about that.

"Wait, how do you know what the animals say?" Iolaus asked and looked at her suspiciously. She showed her Mark of Artemis and looked up at him.

"She charged me with watching over this forest." She said and sighed. "There's one rule you have to follow, if you hunt here..."

"And what's that?" He asked now understanding and studied her closely.

"You cannot, under any circumstances, kill any of the female animals here…." She said seriously and looked up at him.

"Why would anyone want a female animal?" He asked confused and tried to figure it out.

"Some say that their meat is sweeter than a male's, especially this time of year since they're getting ready for mating season…" She said and rolled her eyes.

"We won't kill any of the females, i promise." Hercules said and smiled at her.

"Good, now how about you guys come hunting with us?" She said and smiled at them happily.

"Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun." Iolaus said and smiled at her. She smiled back at them and led them into the woods looking for tracks. Asteri howled slightly finding deer tracks and sniffed the ground. Sophie went over inspecting the tracks and smirked.

"These are definitely male." she said and looked back at the boys. "See how these are heading to a thicker part of the forest? And how big they are?"

"yeah, that's an old hunter's trick." Iolaus said and looked at her curiously. "where did you learn?"

she smirked at him and said. "that's a secret, cutie."

Hercules almost laughed at her teasing his friend and kept watching them. Sophie followed the tracks being careful not to make too much noise. the way she moved was almost wolf like, it was fascinating to watch. she was now crouching on all fours in the brush. the three wolves had left her side to herd the buck their way. sophie grabbed an arrow getting ready and aimed where she knew the buck would run to. the buck clambered running from the three wolves and got in her shooting range. she loosed her arrow and smirked when it hit a vital point. she stood and went over to the now dying buck. the smell of fresh blood in the air now, she knelt down and calmed down the deer.

"I'm sorry... now go to the Elysian Fields." she whispered before slitting its throat and took her mask off. Iolaus and Hercules went over and Iolaus stared at her in awe.

"that was amazing, where did you learn to hunt like that?" Hercules asked her and couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen her before somewhere.

"like I said, it's a secret." she said and sighed standing. she began to drag the deer by the legs towards the cave she had been calling home for the past several years.

"here, let me." Hercules said and gently took the deer from her. she panted and nodded.

"thanks." she said and smiled at him. "let's go to my cave and get it ready to eat."

"you live in a cave?" Iolaus asked surprised staring at her still. she nodded and yawned slightly.

"yeah, for the past several years." she said and led them through the forest to her den. the three wolves went to their designated spots and looked up at Sophie. she grabbed some rope and helped Hercules hang up the buck. she took her cloak off and began to expertly clean it. she was obviously very tired and could probably keep doing it in her sleep. Hercules set a gentle hand on hers and said. "here, i can finish this if you want to rest."

"thanks, i was actually thinking of taking a bath." she said and smiled gratefully. "i haven't slept very well lately..."

she went to the river nearby, Nyx following her instinctively and washed up relaxing a little in the cold water. she watched the blood and grime wash off her skin and paused hearing a twig snap and Iolaus' voice.

"hey, sophie? could i ask you something in priv-?" he said and froze seeing her naked body. he cleared his throat and turned around embarrassed. she giggled slightly and grinned. she got out of the water and put her dress back on.

"be glad you didn't walk in on a god bathing." she teased and kissed his cheek pinching his butt playfully. she started walking back to the den and paused looking back at him. she went back to him with a playful skip and smirked. "or do you want to be punished?"

Iolaus blinked and chuckled slightly. "I'm sorry, i didn't know you were bathing."

"It's okay." she said and smiled. "You probably didn't hear me saying it."

"Y-yeah…" he said rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed.

"Seriously, it's okay… although, maybe you should listen a little better next time." she teased and kissed his cheek a little. She smiled at him kindly and took his hand gently. "Let's head back together."


End file.
